Author and integrative medical education pioneer Andrew Weil, MD, founder of the influential Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, has issued 7 recommendations which he believes will drive the healthcare debate toward true healthcare reform. He opens with a statement of rights to "good health care that is effective, accessible, and
affordable, that serves you from infancy through old age, that allows you to go
to practitioners and facilities of your choosing, and that offers a broad range
of therapeutic options." He then blasts the current expensive system and the failure of the current debate to focus on "the content of health care" before offering "some changes we can demand
immediately." These are:

Ban
direct-to-consumer marketing and advertising by big pharma.

Create a
National Institute of Health and Healing at the NIH and fund it generously.

Create an
Office of Health Promotion within the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services and fund it appropriately.

IOM report from Summit on Integrative Medicine to be released online November 4, 2009

The long-awaited report from the Institute of Medicine on the influential February 25-27, 2009 National Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public is scheduled for release on November 4, 2009. The date coincides with an expensive, black-tie shindig in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Bravewell Collaborative, which backed the Summit with a $445,000 grant. According to a spokesperson working on the event, the report is to be available online on that date. The official IOM summary of the Summit report will be presented that evening by IOM president Harvey Fineberg, MD. (For more on changes in the powerful Bravewell, see Philanthropy, this issue.)

Congressman Bruce Braley (D-IA) leads group of 47 in letter asking for language to stop discrimination between the professions in health reform bills

Letter urging non-discrimination against provider types, signed by 47 members of Congress, sent to Speaker Pelosi

On September 14, 2009, a letter signed by 47 members of Congress was sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) which urged that any legislation passed include "a provider non-discrimination provision at the federal level, and make it applicable to all plans." The letter does not mention any particular health care disciplines. Taking the lead on the letter drafting were Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) and Rep. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), according to a notice from the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), which supported the initiative. The focus, generally, is on "the importance of patients being able to choose the type of health
care provider that will treat them as well as the need to prevent
discrimination against entire classes of health care providers by insurance
plans. Another focus is on maintaining any hard-won rights and inclusion professions have gained at the state level. The ACA e-note to its members clarified that "while ACA remains
focused on many chiropractic-specific legislative initiatives, there are
certainly some areas where the profession shares concerns with a larger body of
health care providers. ”

Comment: Since winning its protracted anti-trust lawsuit against the American Medical Association in the late 1980s, the chiropractic profession has blazed multiple paths that have created opportunities for other licensed complementary healthcare disciplines. This is another. Inclusion of a non-discrimination concept in any health reform legislation would be a huge win for many professions - including the other licensed "CAM" fields.

The September 9, 2009 issue of Academic Medicine, the publication of the American Assiociation of Medical Colleges, includes an article by long-time anti-CAM activist Donald Marcus, MD entitled "An Evaluation of the Evidence in “Evidence-Based” Integrative Medicine Programs. Marcus et al reviewed the curricula at the 14 medical and nursing schools which received R 25 education grants from NIH NCCAM and concluded that "these curricula, which are used all over the
country, fail to meet the generally accepted standards of
evidence-based medicine." Further: "By tolerating this situation, health
professions schools are not meeting their educational and ethical
obligations to learners, patients, or society. Because integrative
medicine programs have failed to uphold educational standards, medical
and nursing schools need to assume responsibility for their oversight." Karen Lawson, MD and Mary Jo Kreitzer, PhD, RN, FAAN, two leaders of the program at the University of Minnesota, one of those challenged in the Marcus article, wrote a response to Academic Medicine which they shared with the Integrator. They argue that "unfortunately, [Marcus et al] failed to live up to their own standard of 'evidence based' by making multiple assumptions about the content and format of teaching integrative medicine in medical schools." Lawson and Kreitzer argue that the conclusions of Marcus, relative to the University of Minnesota program, are "erroneous and inflammatory."

Comment: Credit Lawson and Kreitzer for their quick, corrective response. Here is hoping Academic Medicine publishes it. The journal has been very response in the past, including publishing favorably on the R 25 programs. An October 2007 issue included nearly 50 pages written by investigators for these programs.

New alliance of massage educators seeks to fill gap

American Massage Therapy Association disbands Council of Schools; new Alliance forming

At
its September 2009 national meeting, the American Massage Therapy
Association chose to disband its Council of Schools (COS). A report in
the Massage Today
stated that the COS began as an independent entity in 1982. Then in 1999,
the COS chose to formally become part of the AMTA, after which it's membership
jumped from 55 to 480 schools. The September 2009 AMTA action followed a decision by some
AMTA-COS members, at the last regular AMTA-COS meeting in January 2009, to seek independence
as a separate not-for-profit corporation. The organization since formed, Alliance for Massage
Therapy Education, is seeking "to become a nonprofit
organization designed to serve as the independent voice and advocate
for the entire education sector." The Alliance is "still in its developmental stages," according to the Massage Today article. In
place of the COS, the AMTA is expected to create a committee of
educators and schools which does not have the independence of the COS.

Comment:
From the perspective of professional development, the disbanding of the
COS looks like a step backward. The typical pattern of mature
professions is for the professional association to help create an independent entity, often nursed into being by the professional body. Then again, massage/massage therapy lives in a
limbo between being a trade (with an exceedingly low entry standard of
just a couple hundred hours in some jurisdictions) and those promoting
higher standards and a move for greater professionalism. In addition, there are over 1600 massage schools in the U.S. and Canada, and an estimated 12,000 teachers, according to an article on the founding of the Alliance. It will be
interesting to see if the new void will be filled, by the emerging
Alliance, or some other entity. For now, those looking for standards in
massage therapy education should look for COMTA-accredited programs.Of the 1600 schools, just slightly over 100 are accredited by this specialized, federally-recognized agency.

The Program
in Integrative Medicine at the University of Kansas has announced that it is seeking applicants for its 3rd fellow at the University of Kansas Medical Center. This physician will start the fellowship in the Fall of 2010. A note to the Integrator from program director Jeanne Drisko, MD clarifies that the program is not training a professional for delivery of one or more individual modalities. Rather, the Kansas fellowship was established "to develop the practitioner who’s knowledgeable
enough about integrative care to be trained along side our faculty as a collaborative
member of multidisciplinary patient care team," according to Drisko. The fellowship is a one-year
intensive exploration of clinical, educational, and research activities related
to integrative medicine. It is open to MDs, DOs and NDs who have satisfactorily completed
their residency training. Information about the fellowship is here.

Comment: This is, as far as I am aware, the only such program which is open to candidates from all 3 of these physician-level disciplines.

NCCAM has announced $17.8 million of 2009 awards
from the total of $32-million of American Recovery and Reconstruction
Act (ARRA) stimulus funds the agency will dispense by 2010. The 2-year
total represents 0.39% of the over $8-billion ARRA shot in the arm for
NIH. The entire list of grants, investigators and amounts is listed here
(thanks to the research of integrative practice publisher Taylor Walsh,
who also shared the Twitter information in this issue). An analysis
shows that over 40% of the projects funded continued the NCCAM pattern of
prioritizing herb and dietary supplement-related research.All
but two awards went to conventional academic medical centers; just a
handful were connected principally with hospitals or, in one case, an
integrative clinic (Marino Center). The two grants which went to researchers in complementary and alternative healthcare centers both focused on manipulation. One went to researchers Palmer College and the other to National University of Health Sciences. Of the total of 52, 6 were in mind-body, 4 related to acupuncture and Oriental medicine, 1 on massage, and there were 4 total focusing on manipulation. One study relates to insurance and payment-related issues.

Comment:
It is not surprising, in the rushed context of the ARRA awards, that
none appear to do what NCCAM most fails to fund, and in which it has
the least expertise, but that practitioners most want: research on the
kinds of whole person, multi-factorial protocols they routinely offer
their patients. The practitioner communities, and those who educate
them, must make this preference strongly known to NCCAM as that Center
engages development of its next 5-year plan.

NCCAM-funded Gonzalez pancreatic cancer trial continues to generate controversy
It has been 10 years since the
National Cancer Institute announced the first ever direct comparison of
an
alternative and conventional approach to treating pancreatic cancer. The trial was
to look at a protocol used by Nicholas Gonzalez, MD and was engaged via
a team led by a physician associated with Columbia University Medical Center, John
Chabot, MD. In May of this 2009, Chabot's study, based on the Gonzalez regime, was published here in Journal of Clinical Oncology. The findings were negative. Gonzalez has posted a rebuttal on his site. More recently, anti-CAM writers have weighed in against Gonzalez at ScienceBasedMedicine.com. Beth
Clay, a former staff member at the NIH Office of Alternative Medicine
and Congressional staffer for the House Oversight Committee under Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN), is
presently working with Gonzalez to publicize his views on the what
happened with the research. Clay sent this note to the Integrator:

"The last decade as far as the
general public and the alternative medicine community knew was devoted
to the rigorous management of what might have been the most important
pancreatic cancer study of the century. Instead what took place was a
series of management failures by at the NIH both at NCI and NCCAM.
Further, there were serious violations of the research protocol
(including mismatching the arms of the study and then retrospectively
re-staging them in an attempt to equalize them) and failure to insure
human subject protections by the principal
investigator; attempts at the NIH to brush the violations and
mismanagement under the rug either through malfeasance or incompetence;
and a government investigation that confirmed that Dr. Chabot failed
two thirds of the time to provide adequate informed consent to
patients. And finally, a failed and then successful attempt by Dr.
Chabot to publish a fraudulent research paper."

Clay references Gonzalez' rebuttalabout many aspects of his experience with engaging both the NIH and
Columbia. Clay argues that "his explanation is important for every individual interested
in alternative health research as well as cancer." She states that the "misinformation campaign on this trial is ongoing on the
internet." In her view, a link on NCCAM’s website should not have been provided "with no explanation, as if nothing irregular or inappropriate
happened." Clay concludes: "I cannot help but think that had it been Dr. Gonzalez or any
other ‘alternative’ doctor who had done the things that Dr. Chabot has
done, that it would have been splashed across the front of the New York
Times, but so far the staff at the NIH, NCI, NCCAM as well at Columbia
University, and the media have simply shrugged their shoulders as if it is no
big deal."

Comment: I don't know
what to make of this story, honestly. I spoke with Gonzalez roughly a year ago, following
an introduction from Clay. I ultimately decided I did not want to wade
into an area that was both exceedingly complex and beyond my expertise. (I've focused on the preventive, outpatient, family medicine end of healthcare rather than integrative specialty treatment.) Nor was I interested in blasting NCCAM. With this article, I share Clay's perspective both out of a relationship with Clay that goes back nearly 15 years and because there does seem to be an ugly
pattern which is evident in the NCCAM letters referenced below. The present context for exploration and pilot projects in integrative practices, as the story in Employers in this Round-up reminds us, remains full of prejudice and politics. Those wishing to explore additional and more detailed views on the Gonzalez/Chabot, including NCCAM's various presentations (see here and here and here), can go to the links supplied.

Former torchholder for chiropractic research gives way to educational centers

Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research (FCER) shuts down after 60 years

The Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research (FCER) has shut its doors and turned off its website. For nearly the entire 63 years since its founding in 1946, FCER was the central focus of research in the chiropractic profession. Over $10-million in funds were raised, mainly through industry (most significantly Integrator sponsor NCMIC). With the growth of research capacity in the chiropractic medical schools and the increasing availability of government grants in the past 15 years, the center of research action in chiropractic medicine shifted in the last decade to these academic-based research centers. Researchers on chiropractic medicine with Palmer Chiropractic College, Western States Chiropractic College, Northwestern Health Sciences University, Southern California University of Health Sciences, National University of Health Sciences, and New York Chiropractic College are among those in the United States who have received significant federal grants. James Whedon, DC, an NIH-funded health services researcher at Dartmouth who recently commented on the Integrator article on IFM's 21st Century Medicine offers this obituary:

"When the Foundation for Chiropractic Education and
Research (FCER) was founded in 1943 (known then as the Chiropractic Research
Foundation), the phrase, 'chiropractic research' was almost
oxymoronic. For decades, FCER provided
invaluable non-partisan support for scientific inquiry. FCER fellowships helped launch the careers of
research pioneers such as Scott Haldeman [DC, MD] and Reed Phillips [DC, PhD]. Despite rumblings of financial problems, the
news that FCER had closed its doors was a shock, particularly coming right after
FCER and the World Federation of Chiropractic co-hosted the International
Conference on Chiropractic Research in Montreal. Attended by 1,000 chiropractors from 38
countries, this year's conference was an astounding success, and a testament to
the strength of our international research community. The research effort to which FCER gave birth
is alive and well. Thank you, FCER - you
were there when we needed you most."

Comment: One place where those schooled into conventional healthcare disciplines simply cannot understand the trials and tribulations facing outsider disciplines is in creating funding for research. I significantly credit NCMIC and Foot Levelers and Standard Process and a few other firms for filling in where the NIH, caught in prejudices, refused to tread. The businesses related to chiropractic medicine brought not only cash but vision, as Whedon notes, by literally creating the researchers through the fellowship program. While NCCAM is stepping up - witness the 2 ARRA "stimulus" grants to DC schools in the article above - it still doesn't touch what is needed in terms of building the research culture and capacity of chiropractic, and for that matter all of the licensed CAM fields, to make up for decades of exclusion during which FCER carried the flag for chiropractic research.

ACA notes role in protecting physician status for chiropractors in federal benefits plan

The American Chiropractic Association
(ACA) announced on October 2, 2009 that "after months of negotiations"
with Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA),"doctors of
chiropractic are once
again designated as “physicians” in the BCBSA Federal Employee Plan (FEP)." The action is particularly important as the FEP is the plan that President Obama has identified as a
template for future health care reform. ACA President Rick
McMichael, DC states: “Physician status under
this health plan is critical, and ACA action has assured that this status is
once again recognized.” BCBSA
had changed the designation of doctors of
chiropractic from “physicians” to “other health care providers” in
January of 2009. The ACA, according to the release, "immediately
recognized that the change could have a serious impact on whether DCs
would be
allowed to provide the physician-level services they are educated and
licensed
to perform—and could even influence whether chiropractic care would
later be
restricted or completely excluded in a national health care plan using
the BCBS FEP
as a model. ACA promptly contacted BCBS and requested that the
designation be
reversed. The ACA ticked off a list of restrictions in covered services
that had already flowed from the January 2009 decision, which is now
rescinded. The BCBSA FEP is the largest privately underwritten health
insurance contract
in the world, enrolling 4 million federal government employees,
dependents and
retirees. The ACA has 15,000 members.

Comment: One stakeholder's reform is another's deform.
The ACA has worked hard with their allies to protect this treasured
status. As noted, the "physician" language is indeed a treasure: it can
open doors to payment that only goes to physician-level practitioners.

Nursing holistic certification corporation sees increase in interest

Holistic nurses draw more interest in holistic certification programs

The board certified trainings for holistic nurses, formally recognized by the American Nurses Association, and administered through the American Holistic Nurses Certification Corporation are drawing increased interest from nurses and nursing students. In an interview in the monthly e-news of the American Holistic Nurses Association, AHNCC director Margaret Erickson spoke of a "tremendous increase" in interest in certification. Erickson typically refers individuals to the list of 14 ANCC-endorsed nursing programs. Erickson reportedly says that since the holistic board, developed by the AHNA was recognized by the ANA that holistic thinking has "infiltrated" hospitals and schools more readily. Erickson also indicated that many certified nurses have found that the additional training and breadth of practice via their certification in holistic nursing has led to salary boosts for many nurses.

Employers

Employer shares how biases may limit cost savings from onsite massage

Hurdle to massage in the workplace: despite cost-savings, dismissed as "fluff"

In a conversation in the hallway at the September 2009 one-day Seattle conference of Integrator sponsor the Institute for Health and Productivity Management, an employer acquaintance declined
to publicly share information the employer's positive experience with an onsite
program using deep-tissue massage, from licensed massage therapists,
for musculoskeletal pain. "I'm afraid
to share because I don't want to put the program at risk," explained
the medical director. He
noted that employees like the program "maybe too much" but at the same time the firm
has seen workers' compensation costs go down since initiating the
program. While he things these savings are linked and causal, he acknowledged that "it's hard to prove (return on
investment)" because of confounding variables. But in these
tough economic times, he said, he could imagine his operating superior
"who doesn't like fluff" see a write-up on the massage-based program and "dismiss it
before he read the first two paragraphs of any report." He imagined
that his superior would focus on the productivity losses from workers getting massaged during paid time and use that as an
excuse to gut the program. Thus, the director's strategy is to keep the
program "under the radar" until workers' compensation
savings are "down to a level that the program's value is undeniable."

Comment: Interesting to
discover that sometimes rank prejudice is even more powerful than the
almighty dollar. The road to optimal healthcare delivery is long and
full of obstacles, friends. I think I will re-read the Odyssey with my
14 year old who has it in her 8th grade class this year.

Economics of CAM

Article locates cost savings from acupuncture

Paper on economics of AOM published, includes details on 18 studies

The Fall 2009 issue of the American Acupuncturist includes a 7-page article entitled "Economic Evaluation in Acupuncture: Past and Future." The author team, led by New York acupuncturist Michael Jabbour, LAc, MS, searched the literature for all studies of acupuncture that examined costs. A wide range of studies of various types of outcomes were included. A key focus is on monetizing "quality of life years" gained. Table 2 in the paper includes a handy list of 18 cost studies and their findings, 14 of them since 2000 and none older than 1995. The authors recommend the inclusion of simple health-related quality of life type measurement (such as SF-36) in future clinical trials of AOM. They also note the importance of including "indirect costs and intangible costs" in economic studies. The authors ultimately conclude with a note that "acupuncture has the capacity to offer cost-effective treatment, even when compared to conventional medicine." Then they add the caveat: "However, a common language must be adopted, one the decision makers can understand."

Economist-researcher Patricia Herman, ND, MS, PhD

Herman offers clarification on her review of areas of cost savings from CAM

An Integrator reader contacted economist and researcher Patricia Herman, ND, MS, PhD following publication of the recent Integrator article (Herman's Systematic Review Yields Top 9 Therapies/21 Conditions with High Quality Evidence of Cost Savings from CAM, August 27, 2009) with a query about inclusion criterion for the articles she is selecting. Particularly, he asked, why were the studies led by Richard Sarnat, MD which showed significant cost benefits from integrative practitioners as primary care providers not included? Herman shares that the Sarnat work "is an important and valuable study" but, because it did not include randomization, it didn't meet the criteria of "high quality' she used in the review. Herman further notes that the most intriguing take home from the studies she has been able to evaluate to date is that "over 50% show cost savings." She underscores that "this is beyond cost-effectiveness to cost-savings," adding that "this is not likely just an
artifact of publication bias because there is no disincentive for publishing
something as cost-effective vs cost saving." Herman notes that this is particularly interesting given "the typical conventional point of view that CAM increases cost."

Philanthropy

Changes in list of philanthropists backing Bravewell

Changes in philanthropic backing of the Bravewell Collaborative The promotional materials for the "Distinguished Evening" that will kick off the publication of the report from the Institute of Medicine on the National Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public provide some insight into the backing of the sponsor organization, the Bravewell Collaborative. The event, to be held at the Mandarin Oriental in Washington, DC on November 4, 2009 is pricey, with individual tickets at $750 and table sponsorship running $10,000 to $50,000. Then again, this is the organization that spent $445,000 to back the Summit and that has made a series of significant strategic investments that have propelled the launch of "integrative medicine" in the public mind and in medical schools. A September 2007 article on the last major Bravewell event analyzed changes from 2003-2007 in the organization's member philanthropists. The list for the 2009 event includes 16 individuals, representing 12 philanthropic families/organizations. New in 2009 are philanthropists Blythe Brendon, Ruth Westreich and Barry and Janet Lang. There is one new foundation, The Karan-Weiss Foundation, associated with fashion maven Donna Karan and her Urban Zen initiative. Absent in 2009 after having played a role in 2007 are the Marsh and Wood-Rill Foundation and the Globe Foundation.

Comment: The heart of the Bravewell funding collaborative has stayed entact for this l;ast decade of the organization's activities. Still, I find myself wondering what will be up next for the Bravewell Collaborative. Is this Summit with the IOM the pinnacle toward which these philanthropists, led by co-founders Penny George and Christy Mack, have been striving through through their distinguished set of accomplishments? Has the Bravewell done what it was created to accomplish? Certainly, healthcare is not yet transformed, their stated goal, and nor is medical education. But will this impatient, leading edge organization hang in there for the less glamorous, nuts and bolts hanging-in-there that now must follow the more visionary successes? Or alternatively, where might the Bravewell make its next, high visibility mark?

Winners Ricki (L) and Gunn (R) on either side of son of Dr. Rogers, presenting the award

Dr. Rogers Prize of $250,000 goes to Hal Gunn, MD and Badri (Bud) Rickhi, MDThe
biannually-awarded $250,000 Dr. Rogers Prize
for contributions in complementary
and integrative medicine in Canada was granted to Hal Gunn, MD of
Vancouver and Badri (Bud) Rickhi, MD of Calgary. Gunn runs
InspireHealth, an
integrated oncology program, and Ricki established
the Canadian Institute for Natural and Integrative Medicine (CINIM) and
played a key role in establishing the Integrative Health Institute at
Mount
Royal College. Gunn's work carries forward ground-breaking integrative
oncology work of Roger Hayward Rogers, MD a pioneering integrative
physician in Canada after whom the award was named. Nancy Baxter, the Dr. Rogers' Prize coordinator, shared with the Integrator thatthe
2009 Dr. Rogers Prize events on September 25th, which included afternoon seminars with integrative practice luminaries, drew attendees from across Canada and from the United
States. Says Baxter: "The first Dr. Rogers Prize Colloquium filled the 174-seat Wosk Centre
for Dialogue
with overflow attendees taking in the proceedings via 'live' closed
circuit projection as [invited integrative health leaders] discussed
the topics of evidence and integration."

Comment: Since Twittering began, I've
had a handful of people suggest I participate. I made the
sign of the cross - which in this case looked like the top of an
old-technology telephone pole - refusing to engage another form of the new, life-speeding tools. As I just discovered, Walsh has created a
"share group" for integrative medicine. It's at the address in his
September 24, 2009 Tweet, and here.Walsh has begun a blog called Getting to Integrative Health and Medicine.

Editorial stance: The use of "chiropractor," "doctor of chiropractic" and "chiropractic physician"

Following the last issue, a chiropractor reader who sees himself as a physician and doctor of chiropractic medicine took me to task for using "naturopathic physician" for members of that profession while typically using "chiropractors" to designate members of his own. He referenced my September 3, 2009 article on the AMA Scope of Practice Campaign. He wondered if this "elevation" of NDs was favoritism, based on my prior work in the 1980s with that profession. I responded that the members of that discipline and the profession itself are unanimous in seeking the "physician" word to describe themselves. Witness the name of the professional association: American Association of Naturopathic Physicians. All of the state ND associations follow suit except the one, California, in which the state medical association prevailed in an effort to keep them from using "physician" during a licensing battle.

Meantime, the chiropractic or chiropractic medical field is mixed. The leading national association is called the American Chiropractic Association, not the American Association of Chiropractic Physicians. The academic organization is the Association of Chiropractic Colleges, while that in the naturopathic field asserts its medical focus as the Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges. Yet clearly the DC profession is split. The Council on Chiropractic Education (no "medical" there) specifically states that it accredits programs that may be educating "chiropractic physicians." The recent U.S. Department of Labor definition of the field notes that "chiropractors [are] also known s doctors of chiropractic and chiropractic physicians." As noted in the Professions section of this round-up, the American Chiropractic Association recently celebrated its victory in keeping the word "physician" in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee Plan. A lobbyist for chiropractic in Washington, D.C. shared with me that recent federal legislative issues have often a component in which assertion of the role of doctors of chiropractic as physicians is frequently important. Meantime, subsets of doctors of chiropractic in various states are promoting broader scopes of practice which present the field as a field of medicine and chiropractic education as chiropractic medical education.

Editorial line: On reflection, I will plan to use the range of these terms more often, going forward, especially when I know that the individual about whom I am reporting has preferences. Integrator readers will henceforth be more likely to see "chiropractic" in one sentence, "chiropractic medicine" in another and "chiropractic physician" elsewhere, perhaps in the same article.

Rachael
Wong, MPH was recently appointed as the new executive director of the Hawaii
Consortium for Integrative Healthcare, a non-profit organization committed to
promoting wellness and advancing the practice of integrative, holistic care
throughout the state. Wong was previously the executive director of Kokua Mau, the state hospice
and palliative care organization. She is a doctoral candidate in the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Executive Doctorate in Health Leadership
Program. Her dissertation research will focus on U.S. solid organ
transplant recipients' CAM use and integrative healthcare needs. The Consortium is unique nationally in the array of stakeholders, from practitioner groups to hospitals, goivernmental agencies and payers, that are member organizations.

Dana Ullman, MPH now blogging at HuffPo

Ullman now a HuffPo blogger

Dana Ullmnan, MPH has joined the ranks of integrative medicine-oriented bloggers on the pages of the Huffington Post. Ullman's first post was September 24, 2009, and is entitled the Wisdom of the Body. His name on the site lists his expertise in homeopathic medicine. His Epidemic of Fever Phobia: The facts on Why Fever is Your Friend generated a lively discussion with over 130 responses as of October 6, 2009. The last Integrator Round-up noted that Dean Ornish, MD is serving as medical editor for HuffPo. (By the way, Ullman's article on the IOM Summit was published here in E-CAM.)

Pathways seeks new executive director for expanding operation

Pathways to Wellness seeks new executive director as Porter stays on but re-focuses
Pathways to Wellness, one
of the largest providers of complementary medicine in the U.S., is seeking a
"highly experienced, strategic thinking, entrepreneurial, and visionary leader
who will guide Pathways into its next level of development." In a note to the Integrator, Kristin Porter, LAc, the present executive director writes: "We are restructuring
Pathways to provide optimum infrastructure for growth and expansion, which
includes hiring an executive director so that I may narrow
my focus on the development and growth of Pathway’s clinical capabilities, research and integration strategy
(yes, that means I am not leaving Pathways…heck, I'm heading into my 20th
year!)." Pathways provides a variety of complementary services, with acupuncture and Oriental medicine lead approaches and modalities. Potential applicants are invited to explore the site and apply online. At least 10 years of senior nonprofit management is "preferred." Inquires and nominations should be directed to Judy Freiwirth, the clinic's "transition consultant," at
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
.

John Scaringe, DC, new president at SCUHS

Scaringe named president at Southern California University of Health Sciences

John Scaringe, DC has taken over as president of Southern California University of Health Sciences. The multidisciplinary institution has programs in chiropractic medicine, acupuncture and Oriental medicine and massage therapy. A release from the University notes that Scaringe previously
served as vice president for academic affairs and chief academic officer at SCUHS since 2006. He began his career at Los Angeles College
of Chiropractic (LACC), which later expanded to become SCUHS, as faculty in 1991. Former SCUHS president Ronald Kraft, PhD stepped down to pursue
other professional opportunities.

CTCA's Tim Birdsall, ND, FABNO chosen AANP Physician of the Year

Tim Birdsall, ND, FABNO selected as AANP physician of the year by naturopathic doctors

Timothy Birdsall, ND, FABNO, vice president of integrative medicine for Cancer Treatment Centers of America(CTCA) was honored as 2009 Physician of the Year by the
American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP) at their August meeting. Birdsall’s leadership within the profession has included legislative,
policy and research initiatives as well as a visionary integration of naturopathic
medicine into health care. In the past decade, Birdsall has been particularly important in developing the field of naturopathic oncology. Birdsall currently serves as a member of the NCCAM advisory council. A CTCA release on Birdsall's honor is here.